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Jade Fernandez is a Bixby High School junior who is 5-foot-2, loves fashion … and has an interest for intense fitness.

As a 5-year-old, Fernandez showed interest in motocross. With the help of her father, Fernandez began competing in competitions, and motocross became a big part of her life.

“If a race was coming up, we would practice pretty much every night for two weeks leading up to the race,” Fernandez says. “Other than that, I would practice probably about three weekdays and one day during the weekend.”

“He loved it and so he got me a bike when I was five,” she says. “I guess it’s in the blood!”

Motocross was a male-dominated sport then and still is. However, many girls and women are getting into the saddle.

In 2001, Disney channel released a movie entitled Motocrossed, loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The premise involves a girl who feels responsible for her brother’s injury, so she cuts her hair and takes his place in motocross races.

The movie empowered many young girls, including Fernandez.

“I thought she was so cool, but I wasn’t down to cut my hair,” she says.

As a competitor, Fernandez competed against mostly boys and very few girls.

“At first, I was super weirded out by it and got made fun of constantly,” Fernandez says. “Of course there were people who were awful and extremely sexist, but I also made a lot of great relationships with the guys that I hung out with.”

Fernandez is officially retired from motocross. She still rides as a hobby. She has now taken on swimming, boxing and Brazilian jiu jitsu.